One might have thought that four and a half years after the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, any further investigations about it would be akin to beating a dead horse. After all, Democrats invested substantial time and treasure in 2022 probing the events of that fateful day.
Anti-Trump lawmakers unleashed one blistering attack after another on Donald Trump and the rioters during televised public hearings and in the final 845-page report of their partisan Select Committee, the product of 18 months of investigation. They clearly believed a highly choreographed recounting of events, complete with the most damaging, cherry-picked, violence-filled footage, would stick a stake in the heart of Trump’s plans to recapture the White House. But like the left’s attempts to imprison and bankrupt their mortal enemy, it amounted to sound and fury signifying little or nothing to everyday voters who had moved on and later sent Trump back into office. In fact, it could be said that their theatrically staged hearings backfired.
So why, then, have congressional Republicans voted to open what could be described as Pandora’s box with their own counter-investigation of 1/6/21? Well, for one, the conclusions they are bound to reach will surely be very different, even opposite in some ways, from those of the Democrats. They will undoubtedly recount stories of those imprisoned unjustly by the Biden administration as they attempt to set the record straight on parceling out blame for the fiasco. They will set their sights on the security failures allowed or orchestrated by then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and other Democrats who knew well in advance of the riot that violence was a ripe possibility in light of the overwhelming majority of Trump voters who believed the result of the 2020 presidential election was not credible.
Let Sleeping Dogs Lie?
Considering the 47th president is back in the White House and undoubtedly at the peak of his power, would the GOP be better off letting these sleeping dogs lie? Or were the findings of the Democrats’ January 6 committee so egregiously wrong and/or unfair that they demand a response?
There is little question that this effort will stir the emotions of Democrats desperate to recapture their relevance. They will amp up their talk about Republicans trying to rewrite history and will almost certainly attack one of Trump’s least popular initiatives, the pardoning or commutation of some 1,500 people convicted for violent activity, civil disobedience, or just being in the wrong place at the wrong time on January 6.
The drumbeat has already begun, with outspoken Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) saying he welcomes another opportunity “to examine the constantly growing criminal records of all the hundreds of violent felons, cop-beaters and white nationalists who Donald Trump pardoned and released onto our streets on his first day in office,” according to Politico. What Raskin overlooks is the fact that some individuals convicted of violent acts on January 6, such as assaulting police officers, remain in federal custody. There is ample evidence that two activist groups, Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, were the chief instigators of the riot, and that hundreds simply followed their lead in breaching the Capitol.
The subcommittee investigation will take place in the purview of the House Judiciary Committee and will be chaired by Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA), who will be granted unilateral authority to issue subpoenas. And Loudermilk is setting his focus on the highly partisan nature of the Democrats’ report on January 6: “The evidence is irrefutable that there was more politics than there was truth in that … What we saw in the initial investigation, there was a lot more politics involved in decision-making than there ever should’ve been.”
The only two Republicans on the 2022 January 6 subcommittee were anti-Trumpers Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, both of whom asked questions just as loaded as their Democratic colleagues. Democrats will be granted three seats on the new subcommittee, and early indications are that, unlike the Democrats, the GOP will allow the Dems leeway to select their own members.
January 6 Just Won’t Go Away
The decision to pursue this investigation is likely based in part on the residual frustration of Trump voters who witnessed the rules change in the middle of the game in 2020. State after state, citing the pandemic, dramatically expanded mail-in voting in the heart of the presidential campaign, many of them sending unsolicited and relatively unverifiable ballots to every household in their states. There were widespread reports of multiple ballots being sent to the same address, unguarded drop boxes, and ballot harvesting, in which operatives go door to door offering to accept and deliver ballots to election authorities.
In a stunning admission, Pelosi was videotaped for an HBO documentary complaining about the lack of security on January 6, saying, “I can’t believe the stupidity. I take full responsibility.” That is a quote that will likely animate this new investigation, as Republicans seek their own pound of flesh years after that infamous event. The question is whether raising the matter again at a time when Democrats are gasping for air will be productive - or counterproductive.
